This week, our host Christina spoke with Bob Michael, Senior Director of Credit and Collections at Robert Half. Bob brings to the conversation over 25 years of experience in the industry. He shares what he describes as his "good old-fashioned" story of climbing the corporate ladder at Robert Half, one of the world's largest accounting and finance staffing firms.
Bob discusses his approach to emerging artificial intelligence tools and the importance of remembering to pick up the phone. He also discusses how his team builds strong relationships with external clients and internal sales teams at a firm like Robert Half, which has hundreds of locations worldwide. He also explains how he enhances the effectiveness and output of credit systems.
Read on to learn more from their discussion.
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Guest Profile
Name: Robert Michael
Profession: Senior Director of Credit & Collections at Robert Half
Find Bob on LinkedIn
Episode's Key Points
All about the compromise
Robert Half operates over 345 locations worldwide. With that broad reach, Bob stresses the need to employ the same relationship-building tactics externally with clients and internally with the sales team. Bob will sometimes hop on a plane to meet with clients to resolve issues with their accounts. With the sales team, Bob explains:
It's all about the compromise at the end of the day – can we set up the account so that we can do the business that we want, but also not put too much burden on the shareholders with the risk.
Bob is also a data cruncher. He works to enhance the effectiveness and output of credit systems at Robert Half. Analyzing the numbers, he assesses his team's daily call volume, the peak hour for those calls, the efficiency of email usage, and more.
Generational shift
Bob observed that the collections industry is experiencing a generational shift from Baby Boomers and Gen X to Millennials. That change means a workforce that came of age in the era of social media and rapidly developing computer technology. Many Millennials are more comfortable communicating over email and through chat software. But Bob says he's an "old-school collector" who has been "churning and burning calls" for years to establish a rapport with clients.
It's still important with all this new technology that we stay on the phone. Being able to … build those relationships with the customers goes so much further than blindly sending emails or IMs to people. You really need to make those connections at the end of the day to have success.
Exploring new tools
Bob's dedication to working the phones doesn't mean he is opposed to integrating new technology, including artificial intelligence. He said Robert Half has embraced AI. The firm is exploring how to use the rapidly evolving tech to connect with customers more quickly and boost overall efficiency.
From an AI perspective, some of the stuff that I've seen has been pretty powerful when you're looking at productivity and efficiency, people that are turning over cash faster, and there's some metrics that I like.
Learn More
Visit the C&R Software blog to learn more about finance, software, and collections industry topics from insiders and experts like Bob.
Stay tuned for future episodes of Collecting Thoughts, where host Christina dives deep into more interviews with leaders from across the debt recovery and software world.
